Life of Leonardo da Vinci

Happy Birthday, Leonardo!

Apr 15, 1452

I was born in Vinci, Italy to Ser Piero da Vinci. My mother, Caterina, was a peasant girl. My father was fond of Caterina,but never married her. A few months later, my father married a sixteen-year-old, Albiera Di Giovanni Amadori. My mother loved me, and she would always secretly watch me play.

Apprenticeship

Period: Sep 20, 1467 to Feb 10, 1477

I have been an apprentice for ten years now and I think I'm really getting the hang of it now. I work for Verrocchio's workshop. He has ben teaching me about drawing, mix and apply paints, make clay models for sculpture, and how to carve stone and cast bronze for statues.

Apprenticeship

Aug 2, 1469

I have been an apprentice for two years now and I think I'm really getting the hang of it now. I work for Verrocchio at his workshop. He has been teaching me how to draw, mix and apply paints, make clay models for sculptures, and how to carve stone and cast bronze for statues.

Keeping Notes

Feb 10, 1475

I begin to have interest in mechanics. I kept many notes and journals in my time - 13,000 pages in all! Some of them I kept in a cryptic code, like the one I wrote that could only be read when held up to a mirror. Cool, huh?

First Job

Feb 11, 1478

I got my first real job and it was to paint Madonna and the Holy Child on a chapel wall. It was fun while it lasted, but it took too long. I was getting very bored of the painting, so you can guess what I did... quit. I never finished the painting.

Moving!

Apr 21, 1482

Today I will move to Milan, Italy. Florence wasn't fun for me anymore and I think there will be more interesting work if I move. Sometimes I just need to change things because i really like exploring new things.

I want to fly!

Oct 18, 1483

I am fascinated with creating a flying machine. I make many drawings of things people later will call parachutes, helicopters and gliders as I try to figure out how a man can fly.

The plague makes me think

Sep 13, 1484

A plague kills one third of people in Milan and I begin to think of how a clean and organized city would be really nice about now. I design an "Ideal City" but none of the buildings were ever built.

Cutting them open

Apr 4, 1487

I began to study alot about anatomy. I dissect mainly animals, but some people, too. I am trying to learn as much as I can about how living things work on the inside and the outside. I am one of the first to draw so much detail about the human body.

Weapons of War

Dec 21, 1495

Italy is constantly at war as city-states are constantly fighting for land and leaders. I know I can make some money if I can design machines and ideas to help some rulers win more battles. I designed several weapons like machine guns, giant crossbows and even tanks that were interesting to many at war.

The Ideal Woman - Mona Lisa!

Feb 10, 1503

I begin painting the Mona Lisa. I thought she was the ideal woman. It took me 3 years to finish this one picture. It is one picture I kept as my own the whole time. I never would have guessed it would be so popular 500 years later.

Vatican for me!

Jan 1, 1513

It was a big deal to be invited to live in Rome at the Vatican. During this time, what was remembered most is a painting I did of John the Baptist, but I also focused on mechanics, geometry and optics. I thought visual observation was the source of artist's skills and the source of knowledge.

The End

May 2, 1519

After 67 years of living and inventing and painting, I finally come to an end. It was a good life. I died in "the King's arms." I would never guess that centuries later kids do projects about me and would talk about me being one of the greatest minds ever!